Winter Winds
by grazed fingertips
Summary: As the winter winds litter London with lonely hearts, oh the warmth in your eyes swept me into your heart. / ON HIATUS.


Scorpius slammed the front door behind him as he left, tugging on his scarf and shoving his hands as deeply into his pockets as possible. It was bitterly cold for November. The early onset of frostbite worthy cold spells and pitch-black evenings had everyone in a tizzy, grumbling about how a few more weeks of autumn wouldn't have gone amiss. He, personally, loved the winter months, cherishing them from start to finish. Summer and all its so-called 'fun' were the only constant in his black books.

A faint buzzing in his pocket distracted him from his thoughts and he stopped on the corner of the high street, fishing his mobile from his trouser pocket and opening the text.

**_"The usual Costa. 10 minutes. It's over again."_**

He smiled bitterly to himself as he carried on down the street, admiring the stark contrast between the premature Christmas lights and the night sky. They'd always been stupidly in tune, Albus and him.

5 minutes later he collapsed into his favorite leather chair in the corner of the coffee shop, clenching and unclenching his hands as the warmth chased the cold from every crevice in his body, seemingly cornering it in his fingertips. A hot chocolate was promptly placed in front of him and he smiled absentmindedly at the barista, mind running over and over the events of this evening.

_"Scor! Tea's ready!" The overly cheerful voice of his girlfriend, Tia, floated up the stairs._

_"Just a minute!" He called back, fingertips a blur as he tapped away on his laptop, the words seemingly flowing effortlessly from him._

_"Scor, it's getting cold!"_

_"I said just a minute!"_

_Angry, heavy steps could be heard as she climbed the stairs and crossed the landing. A protesting screech from the hinges of the office door as it was pushed open. The obnoxious sound of pointed boots tapping impatiently on hard wooden flooring. All had him rolling his eyes in advance._

_"Scorpius. It's ready now. Come eat. Your bloody book can wait." _

_"No, Tia, it can't. You know how hard it is for me to write. You understand the way I work." He didn't even bother turning in his chair to look at her. He knew she'd have an ugly scowl on her face._

_"I don't, Scorpius. I… I haven't understood for a while now."_

_That had him pausing, fingers hovering above the keys. He turned slightly, and what he found was something that shocked him. Guilt._

_"You didn't." It came out a whispered plea._

_"I… I'm sorry, Scor. But you never talk to me any more. You never spend time with me. You roll into bed in the early hours of the morning and you're gone when I wake up. You spend more time with your bloody computer than you do with me. I need to feel loved and you… You weren't there when I needed it the most!" _

_"So you should've talked to me! You shouldn't have just gone off with some other bloke!" He was standing now, staring her down._

_"I couldn't talk to you! You're never here for me to talk to!"_

_"I'm always here! I'm always in this bloody room, Tia!"_

_She opened her mouth to reply and quickly shut it again, eyes dropping to the floor._

_"Who was it?"_

_She looked back up at him, probably surprised by the lack of emotion in his voice. Maybe she was expecting rage, uncontrollable fury or a snarl. Maybe she never knew him at all._

_"Was it someone from your work? A friend of mine? The decorator?"_

_She blushed at the mention of the decorator. He scoffed._

_"Really. Such a fucking cliché. I expected you to be more original at least." She winced at his words, sharp and cutting as knives. He grabbed his jacket and shrugged it on, patting the pockets to check for his keys. "I want you gone by the time I'm back." He said, not looking at her as he passed. "You and everything you own. If you're still here, I'm calling the police. If you're stuff's still here, well, the pawn shop across the road will be well stocked for the Christmas sales."_

_He didn't wait for a reply, quickly walking downstairs and slamming the front door behind him. He didn't look back._

The protesting groan of the leather chair opposite him had him looking up.

"You look like shit."

His best friend grinned back at him, running a hand through limp, wind battered hair.

"You don't look so great yourself."

Scorpius shrugged. "Me and Tia are over."

Albus blinked at him, the grin dropping and mouth working noiselessly.

"She cheated on me. With the decorator of all people. Fuck knows how long it'd been going on for. He's been working on the house for months. Here." Scorpius pushed his hot chocolate over to Al. "I'll go order myself another one."

Albus stared dumbly at the drink as he stood, working his way through the shop to the counter and ordering himself another mug. As he waited in line he looked over at Albus, and the sight made him smile a little. He'd shed the old leather jacket and it was slung over the back of his chair along with the oversized tartan scarf yours truly had given him in first year. He was sat hunched over, the Weasley Christmas jumper tight on his broad shoulders, the mop of unruly hair sticking up in tufts. The smile became a full blown grin as Al took a sip of the hot chocolate he'd been nursing and smiled contently, eyes falling shut in bliss. The bloom of warmth in Scorpius's own chest was acknowledged, and blamed on the smell of freshly baked goods being given to the customer in front of him.

Scorpius returned with more hot chocolate and a Panini to share.

"I'm sorry about you and Tia."

"I'm sorry about you and Charlotte."

It was Albus's turn to shrug.

"It hadn't felt right for a while. I'd been expecting it, really."

"Doesn't make it any easier though." Scorpius muttered. Al's eyes met his and held them. The warmth came flooding back. He broke away first. "Anyway, I've told her to be out by the time I get back. I don't think that it's possible for her to be out by tonight, so I was wondering if I could crash at yours?"

"You know you're always welcome on my sofa, Scor. You know that." Albus grinned, evidently unaffected.

They chatted about nothing in particular as they ate, and continued to do so after they left.

"So let me get this straight." Scorpius laughed as they walked by the Thames, the London eye looming above them. "Dom and Jamie are getting married next winter, Victoire's pregnant again, Fred and Roxy have been signed to the Harpies, Rose has been offered a scholarship abroad, Hugo's found a job, James is going to propose to Julie and Lily's got an internship at Vanity Fair."

"Yep." Al said, popping the 'p'. "Oh, and Louis got a boyfriend."

Scorpius stopped, "Louis gay?"

Al laughed, but stopped when he realized he was serious. "How could you have not noticed? Hell, how did you not know he'd come out?"

Scorpius shrugged.

Al's eyes narrowed. "You're not homophobic are you? Because that might be a major problem what with him being my cousin and all."

"God no!" He lurched forward, grabbing Al's arm. "No. I'm not. It was just a surprise. Thinking about it now, I really don't know how I didn't figure it out sooner."

"Neither do I. He flirted with you constantly as well. It was bloody annoying."

"Jealous were we?" Scorpius teased, leaning closer.

"No!" Al cried, backing up a bit, making Scorpius stumble. "No! It was just that you were my best friend, and seeing my cousin drooling over you whenever you were in the same room and hearing him prattle on about how 'beautiful your eyes were' or 'how soft your hair looked' was a pain in the ass, ok?"

"Alright Al. Calm down. I was only joking." They started walking again. "Although, if I remember correctly, Louis _is_ pretty fit..."

"What?!"

"I'm kidding, Al!"

They somehow ended up in the Leaky Cauldron, nursing pints of butterbeer in the heating charmed garden.

"Why'd it end with Charlotte?" Scorpius asked before he could stop himself.

Al was silent, and Scorpius turned to look at him. He thought he'd fallen asleep until he spoke, eyes still closed.

"We never really knew each other." Scorpius waited, knowing there was more. "We'd talk and talk and talk, but it never got deeper than the surface. We'd always lose our tempers with each other over things that wouldn't faze a normal couple. We'd barely talk during the week what with work and other things. She couldn't get along with my family. Nothing worked. Nothing ever really worked." He opened his eyes then, staring at the moon as it hung like a pearl set in blue satin. He smiled sadly. "Nothing ever really works."

It was silly how Scorpius thought that all of Albus's facial features worked perfectly together. He blamed the butterbeer.

Al turned his head to look at him. "Why'd you and Tia finish? Aside from the cheating of course."

"She hated that I spent so much time holed up in my study. She wanted a conventional boyfriend who'd drop everything to make her happy. In the end I realized she wanted someone who was the complete opposite of me. It never really works for me either, does it?" They were both quiet for a moment before he grinned, a tipsy giggle bubbling from him before he could stop it. "But guess what I've just figure out, Al?"

Al smiled bemusedly. "What have you figured out, Scorp?"

Scorp leaned closer and whispered conspiratorially. "We work well together. We always have and we always will."

For some reason, Albus didn't smile at that.

* * *

**_I was listening to Mumford & Sons and was hit with the need to write a fluffy winter fic for Al & Scor. I hope you like it so far and watch out for new chapters!~_**


End file.
